Pointer
by Key the Metal Idol
Summary: A Ouija board, really? Haven't you seen The Exorcist? Hey, Cap'n Howdy! Julian/Clementine


**A/N: **Next-gen fic for lostquee's fic remix challenge, based on ozmissage's _The Awakening_

* * *

"Hey, Aunt Jules." Julian felt stupid talking to an inanimate object...but well, _inanimate _was debatable these days.

H-E-L-L-O

Julian repressed a shudder—the pointer was still moving on it's own, as it had been doing for nearly a month. It..._she_, claimed to be his Aunt Juliet, and she had told him enough about herself that as much as Julian hated to admit it, he believed her. It would be better to ask his Mom to verify some things, but since she refused to even consider that her sister could be dead, Julian would have to leave it at that.

Impatient knocking on the door came much sooner than he'd hoped, and Julian barely had the time to throw a towel over the Ouija board before Clementine barged in, though she'd scarcely had time to get tired of waiting.

"Hey, Jude! What's going on?" Clementine continued without giving Julian an opportunity to speak. "You don't even bother to lock your door? Tsk! Tsk, I say!"

"My name is _Julian_. And I just forgot, okay?" Class had gotten out later than it usually did, and in his haste to keep the place looking less like the typically messy college apartment that it was, he'd forgotten the obvious. _At least I took care of the Ouija board!_, Julian thought.

"Jude was good enough for Paul McCartney, so it's good enough for you." Clementine left no room for argument, as per usual for her.

Julian thought that Clementine was overbearing, and loud, and sarcastic, and smart, and opinionated, and pretty. _Really pretty._ He liked her a lot, but Julian was a bit of an introvert, so it was quite a challenge being around her sometimes. He'd been surprised when she'd agreed to come over for the day. Julian had seen her shoot down just about every guy that asked her out—even in a just friends way, but somehow Clementine seemed to like him. Julian hoped he wasn't grinning too stupidly at her. The reason she'd given for turning the last one down was 'You're really putting the _idiot_ in idiot grin, and that's not my thing.' He'd really hate to be _that guy_.

"Can I get you anything, Clementine? A drink? Maybe we could play a game? Um...Do you want to watch—"

She cut him off, "That's boring."

"Oh. Sorry." Julian shifted awkwardly and ran a hand through his hair. It was kind of fun watching Clementine run people down, but being on the receiving end was anything but.

"You really know how to throw a party, Jude." Clementine faked a yawn, then blinked as she spotted the door to Julian's closet. "Hmm..what will we find inside?"

"Clothes?" _Games were boring, but closets_...?

She walked over and opened the door, turning a baleful eye on the shirts hanging inside. "I see mommy must still be doing most of the shopping."

"Well, my mother _is _kind of over involved sometimes. I can understand why though." He waited, and Clementine's expression softened just enough for him to continue. "My Aunt Juliet was a fertility doctor, and she had to do a lot of work just so Mom could carry me. My aunt's been gone a long time, so if anything happened to me, Mom couldn't even have another kid." Not that she would have just replaced him like that anyway.

Clementine opened her mouth for a moment, then she paused, seemed to reconsider speaking, and frowned at Julian. She looked back to the closet and bent down to grab a box of supplies off the floor. "What's this? A first aid kit?"

Julian let her change the subject. "Yeah, plus other things. I'm from Florida, so there's hurricane stuff like extra water and duct tape. I doubt there will be any hurricanes in California, but I thought it would be good to have around if there was an earthquake."

Clementine raised an eyebrow. "Jude is _king_ of the Boy Scouts. Got it." Something seemed to catch her eye, and before Julian could stop her she was across the room flinging the towel off the Ouija board.

"A Ouija board, really? Haven't you seen _The Exorcist_? Hey, Cap'n Howdy!"

Could dead people hear thoughts or see panicked looks? At the moment, Julian hoped so. _Oh, God. Please don't move! Please, please, please..._

"Come on, Jude. Let's call up my dead dad. Got to thank him for dying a fiery death to give me settlement money for college." Clementine put her fingers on the planchette, and it slid up to NO.

Julian hoped she was the one pushing it around, because if not things were going to get weird fast. He reluctantly added his fingers. "Settlement money?"

"Oh, yeah. He was on that Oceanic flight all the crazies are always going on about. Total deadbeat, and if _half_ of what my mother says about him is true, dying is the best thing he ever did." Clementine looked down as the planchette moved faster and faster around the board, almost agitated as it started to spell.

Y-O-U R-E-M-I-N-D M-E O-F Y-O-U-R F-A-T-H-E-R

"Who asked you? Damn ghosts." She scowled at it, annoyed. "Now, I want to talk to Sawyer, alright?"

NO

Julian tensed for an outburst from Clementine, but it didn't come.

"Maybe I should be more specific? I want to speak to my father, James Ford."

NO

"Why the hell not?!"

A-L-I-V-E

Clementine looked over at Julian, amused. "Even dead people believe in conspiracies, huh?"

"I guess," he said. The board disagreed.

NO

C-A-S-S-I-D-Y K-N-O-W-S

"What?" Clementine narrowed her eyes at Julian. "How do you know my mother's name?"

"Huh? I don't. You think I'm doing this?"

"It's not like it moves on it's own. We're not in a movie." She let go of the planchette and crossed her arms.

A-S-K A-B-O-U-T T-H-E I-S-L-A-N-D

"What? The one with the Oceanic Six? Everybody knows about that!"

NO

It was zooming around the board so fast Julian lost hold of the planchette.

K-A-T-E T-O-L-D H-E-R A-B-O-U-T A-A-R-O-N S R-E-A-L M-O-T-H-E-R

A-S-K

"What the hell? You think this is fuckin' funny, jerk? Stop doing that!"

"I'm not doing anything, Clementine! I'm not even touching it!" Julian waved his hands around the board. "Look! No strings either!"

"This is insane!" Clementine was furious.

"It's been moving on it's own for a month now, but never like this. It's supposed to be my Aunt Juliet, but how would she know anything about your father?"

K-N-E-W H-I-M

Clementine grabbed Julian's arm. "You're coming with me to see my mother, and if you're screwing with me..."

"I'm _not_, Clementine! What will you do if it's all true?" Julian winced as her grip grew more vice-like.

"Find that damned island, that's what!"

Julian was going to protest that she hadn't even seemed to care about her father aside from his influence on her bank account just a minute ago, but she'd already dragged him over to the door. Left unlocked again as it slammed shut behind them, one last message went unseen on the other side.

S-E-E Y-O-U S-O-O-N


End file.
